Electrocatalysis

The research interests of the research unit “Electrocatalysis” (Prof. Dr. Karl Mayrhofer) are on electrochemical reactions that occur at solid-liquid interfaces and are relevant to electrochemical energy conversion (fuel cells, water or CO2 electrolyzers etc). Reactions of interest are: oxygen evolution, oxygen reduction, carbon dioxide reduction and others. Our focus is placed on finding active, selective and stable electrode materials for such reactions and thereafter the integration to real systems.

We develop innovative tools for the on-line monitoring of electrochemical reactions, by coupling sophisticated electrochemical cells (e.g. the scanning flow cell) with highly sensitive analytical techniques like ICP-MS or qMS. These unique tools enable the high-throughput investigation of a wide range of materials (material libraries) at an extremely short time, thereby accelerating material discovery. In addition, they allow obtaining fundamental insight on reaction mechanisms, which is essential to understand underlying processes. Promising solutions are thereafter tested in more applied electrochemical reactors, to evaluate the efficiency of processes and feasibility for real applications. The development of new methods for fundamental and applied investigations in electrocatalysis is a central activity at the ”Electrocatalysis“ group.